too be honest, i could care less about someone who is exciting, has personality etc etc
i want someone who has a clear cut vision as to how this country should move forward over the next 20 or so years
imho, not one of these 'cookie-cutter" politicians has anything different to offer

here's an article from john ibbitson describing how significantly different the liberal and conservative platforms are, given the long term vision surrounding the deficit, the military and spending programs.

Quote:

In 94 pages, Michael Ignatieff has unveiled a new Liberal Red Book that asks Canadians to fundamentally reject not only Stephen Harper’s Conservatives, but everything they’ve stood for. Over the remaining four weeks of this election campaign, the Liberal Leader will stake his political future on trying to convince you.

Whether he succeeds depends on whether you believe that Canada should return to its Trudeauesque past of increased social spending paid for by higher taxes on corporations and the wealthy, or continue the Conservative emphasis on keeping taxes low while balancing the books.

The choice couldn’t be simpler, or more stark.

Quote:

The competing Liberal and Conservative visions hinge on fundamentally conflicting assumptions: The Liberal platform assumes that Canada has confidently recovered from the past recession, making it a safe risk to ask business to pay more to help working and middle-class families.

The Conservatives envision an economy emerging uncertainly from the Great Downturn in a world that is still filled with turmoil and risk, making sound books the first concern.

Quote:

But while the two parties’ policies sometimes overlap – they’re both very keen to help volunteer firefighters – the underlying philosophies couldn’t be farther apart.

Look at it like this: The Liberal platform proposes spending $80-million over four years to encourage farmers’ markets that sell locally grown food.